Stock No: 15910

An exceptional pair of large alabaster lidded vases in the manner of Lorenzo Bartolini (1777-1850). The lidded urns of baluster form, are finely carved from translucent alabaster the body of the vase depicting classical scenes, the lids topped with a fruiting finial, resting on the slender everted necks with egg and dart rim.
Italian, c.1820, with restorations.

Notes: Lorenzo Bartolini was born in Tuscany and studied in Florence and at the Officina Inghirami in Volterra, a workshop established in 1791 which produced alabaster sculpture and objects in the neoclassical style for Grand Tourist and other wealthy patrons. In 1797 he moved to Paris, where he became a close friend of Ingres and the favoured sculptor of Napoléon, who sent him to Carrara in 1807 to direct the Academy of Sculpture. Later he settled in Florence, where his Grand Tour patrons included Thomas Hope and the 6th Duke of Devonshire.

Lorenzo Bartolini began his career on high quality decorative urns and tazzi for visiting grand tourists. A series of 19 sketches with designs for such vases was published.